Reply With Quotedo a search for it there are a few write ups, it will take about 6-8 hours, so you will need to plan accordingly with enough beer.
Big Time Poster
How hard is it to change the heater core?
After reading a bunch of posts and reading the Bentley manual it sounds like a giant pain in the ass but how difficult is it? I was quoted $750 for labour so I'm thinking I should attempt it myself.
It didn't start leaking until right after I had a rad. flush done, could that have something to do with it or is it just a coincidence?
2 Grand Master
do a search for it there are a few write ups, it will take about 6-8 hours, so you will need to plan accordingly with enough beer.
Originally Posted by Alexlind123
Grand Master
I've serviced heaters on 2 BMWs. Not the E34 though. If it's the same something becomes VERY obvious after a short while. BMW started with the heater and built the rest of the car around it. Pay someone else for the heartbreak
Cheers
Wingman
'89 525i/A Exec 193000kms
'94 Subaru Liberty AWD Wagon
Looking for Merc 300TE
NSW, Australia
Super Moderator
Do you have aircon or not?
If no aircon, it is a piece of cake.
Big Time Poster
After seeing your post a while back Shogun I almost wish I didn't have air conditioning. I can't believe the difference, half hour to an hour instead of eight hours.
Green Beret Special Ops
problem with someone else doing it is they might not put it together correctly...
95 E34 530I V2.37
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Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
John F. Kennedy
Big Time Poster
I did the heater core on my car about 9 months ago. It really wasnt that hard. Just took a long time. I took out as much of the dash as I could a couple days before and put it back in after I knew that I had the core in witout problems. Kept me from getting frustrated by trying to do it all in one day. The hardest part I remember was trying to get the coolant pipes aligned and attached.
Grand Master
Check this out:
http://www.homeofsbc.com/Fixes/Heater/heater.htm
.
Jay Lebo - Toronto, Canada
1990 BMW 535i
5-speed conversion
Lightened flywheel
Sachs Suspension Kit
E.A.T. Chip
Grand Master
It takes time but it's fairly easy. MARK ALL YOUR FASTENERS!!! There are 27 different types of screws and bolts that all have similar thread patterns so it's easy to screw it up and/or have some left over.
I didn't bother fishing out the old tubes and in the new, I just kept the tubes and used new o-rings at the heater core connection (with the new core). I doubt the tubes can fail, and it looked like a huge effort to get them out. New core/o-rings fixed my foggy windscreen right nice.
I managed to finesse the cluster through the steering wheel so didn't have to remove it... but if you do remove it, Bill R. can help with how to reset the SRS light.
HTH
- Robin
Robin
72 Chevy K10
01 E39 M5
Big Time Poster
Did you tackle yours yet Jay? I've got that link in my favorites. That guys quick method is exactly how the Bentley manual says to do it.
Robin, that's the answer I was hoping for. I think I'll make a weekend of it once it warms up a bit. What all should I change once I'm in there?
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